


All Wound Up

by ebineez01



Category: Scarecrow Series - Matthew Reilly
Genre: Angst, Fighting, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebineez01/pseuds/ebineez01
Summary: Scarecrow is back in Basic, but this time it’s a little different...
Relationships: Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield/Andrew "Hawk" Trent
Comments: 15
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this story came from Ice station where we are told that Scarecrow and Andrew Trent were in Officer Candidate School together. And also from an idea sparked by Bastetians fics Birds of a Feather and Confessions 2.0.  
> And lastly title comes from the Cheap Trick song of the same name.

Sergeant Andrew “Hawk” Trent stood at a loose attention, glancing around himself as he waited for the rest of his cohort to form up. They were a motley bunch, ranging from kids fresh out of college with maybe a little ROTC under their belts, to guys like him who'd already been Marine grunts for the better part of their adult lives.

"In formation! Eyes forward!" the drill sergeant yelled.

Trent was quick to obey. It had been a good ten years since he'd been in Basic Training at Parris Island, but he hadn't forgotten how hard assed these guys were, and he let out a deep breath wondering what he'd been thinking coming back for a second round of it. But if he wanted to make the jump from grunt to officer, he had no choice but to attend the Officer Candidate School and the thirteen long gruelling weeks of Basic that went with it. At least he was better prepared for it this time. He almost felt sorry for the kids around him. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Almost...

When the drill sergeant had moved along the line, Andy let his eyes wander again and they settled on a guy a few rows over standing slightly in front of him. He could tell from the guy's stance he was a Marine too, probably a grunt like himself trading up. He looked to be about Andy's own age, late twenties, maybe early thirties.

But it wasn't his stature or his age that drew Andy's eye. It was the fact the guy had the balls to be wearing a pair of anti-flash wraparound glasses on parade. Sure they'd all wear them in the field, but to stand in line in front of a drill sergeant wearing them... _fuck that guy must have a pair..._

Just then, as if about to prove the point Andy was silently making to himself, the sergeant stopped directly in front of the guy. _Here we go,_ Andy thought as the sergeant opened his mouth.

Then his brows knit together as the sergeant said a few words to the guy, low enough that Andy couldn't even hear them, followed by a curt nod from the guy still standing to attention and then the sergeant moved on, continuing his inspection. _What the fuck?_

And right then, Andy determined to get to know this guy a lot better.

They stood out in the blazing sun for the better part of an hour and a half, as the various formalities that accompanied the first assembly at Basic wore on. Finally the commander of the Quantico training school, gave the command for his sergeant in charge to dismiss the recruits from the parade ground so they could begin their first day of training. Andy had hand to hand combat training first up, so he hustled back towards the barracks he shared with thirty nine other guys to get changed and head out to the training ground. As he neared his barracks building he saw the guy with the glasses walking through the entry to it, and he frowned wondering how he hadn't noticed the guy was sharing his living space. But as he entered the long squat building himself he supposed they had only arrived yesterday, and it had been a bit of a zoo for the last twenty four hours as everyone got settled.

He walked through the inner door into his dormitory style room, glancing to each side of the room taking in the twenty single beds arranged along each outer wall, stretching away to the bathrooms at the opposite end of the building. Then he saw him. The guy himself wasn't really remarkable, but those damn glasses were still in place, so he was unmistakable. And smart, Trent noted. He hadn't placed himself at either end of the dorm, but directly in the middle. Now most people would probably think that either end of the line of twenty beds would be best cause you only had one neighbour. But at one end, every prick in the room had to walk past your space, and at the other you were right next to a bathroom shared by forty guys. But in the middle...well, the middle was kind of like that row of seats in the middle of a plane that had extra leg room cause of the emergency exits, for at the exact centre of the room there was an emergency exit door in case of fire. It couldn't be used under normal circumstances for entry and exit to the room cause it was alarmed, but because it had to be kept clear at all times there was an extra wide space between the two beds either side of it. And it was at the footlocker of one of these beds the guy with the shades now stood stripping off his parade gear. Andy had hoped to get one of those beds himself, but by the time he'd made it in yesterday they'd both already been taken.

As he watched he saw a young gangly looking kid stop at the other bed briefly before heading his direction. "Hey kid," he said in his best Marine sergeants voice.

The kid stopped in front of him, eyes large behind round glasses. "Yes Sir?"

"You know you picked about the worst bunk in the place right?"

The kid frowned glancing back to his bed. "I did?"

"Yeah," Andy replied seriously. "When the sergeant comes in in the morning to kick our asses outta bed, when he comes in to tear _you_ a new one for not having your kit squared away...he doesn't stop at the front of the room and he doesn't walk all the way to the back. You know where he stops?"

The younger man swallowed. "In the middle?"

Andy nodded plastering an impressed look on his face. "Exactly! You're a quick learner..." The kid smiled shyly and a grin appeared on Andy's face. _God these kids were so easy... "_ Listen," he said finally. "You remind me of my kid brother, so I'm gonna cut you a break. I'm the third bunk in here," he said pointing to the bed they were standing next to. "It's about the best one you can have, right in the middle of the sergeants walk, just blends in with the rest. I'll swap you."

"You'd do that for me?"

Andy shrugged. "I'm a sergeant myself, so these assholes don't scare me."

The kid nodded. "Thanks."

Andy grinned. "My pleasure kid," he said clapping the guy on the shoulder. "Listen, we gotta book, and I still gotta get changed, but when we come back after dinner tonight collect up all your stuff and we'll switch then."

The young guy nodded. "Okay, and thanks again."

"Sure, don't mention it," Andy breathed as the guy with the shades approached, giving them a quizzical look on his way past.

Andy threw open his footlocker, kicking off his boots and ripping his clothes off, quickly pulling a t-shirt over his head and dragging some shorts up over his hips, hopping on one foot as he pulled his runners on. Throwing all his clothes in the locker and kicking his boots under the bed he ran out the door, hoping they didn't spring a surprise inspection before he had a chance to come back and clean up his shit.

He bounced down the steps and turned left towards the training grounds, breaking into a run to make it there in time. Then he saw the guy with the glasses turning into the same area he was headed to himself and already he felt like he was always two steps behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed so far 🙂


	2. Chapter 2

Scarecrow glanced at his new bunkmate as he returned from the showers. Up until this afternoon, the bunk across the exit lane way from him had been occupied by a gangly young guy who had a tendency to babble nervously whenever Schofield came near him. The guy who currently lounged back on the bed, definitely was _not_ that. Short dark blond hair, blue eyes, about his own age, strong build...it was the guy he'd seen talking to the kid that afternoon when he'd been on his way out to hand-to-hand. Schofield noticed that he'd turned up there as well.

He put his gear in his foot locker and grabbed up a book, laying back on his bed he expected the guy to start talking. He didn't. Which was just fine by Schofield. He was there to get through his retraining so he could get back out in the field, hopefully on a Marine Recon Team, and it looked like this guy was here to do the same. The fact that he was already a Marine who was in retraining like himself and not a rookie, was not in question in Schofield's mind, he'd be able to tell a fellow Marine from a mile away. Even though the guy seemed relaxed, oblivious to his surroundings, Schofield could see the subtle coiling of hard muscle beneath his skin, ready to move, ready to strike at any moment, even though they were in the centre of a military base.

A few hours later and a tone sounded, indicating they were five minutes from lights out, and whatever the reason had been behind the bunk swap, Schofield was glad for it. This time last night he'd been wishing for some ear plugs as the kid next to him felt the need to share his entire life story. In contrast, tonight, he hadn't been disturbed at all.

xxxxxxx

Andy lay awake in his bunk and casually tossed a ball into the air, losing it momentarily in the dark before it reappeared again a couple of feet above his face. He caught it easily, then tossed it up again.

"You plannin' on doin' that all night?" queried a low voice, approximately six feet to his left.

Andrew Trent smiled as he threw the ball into the air again. "For as long as it takes."

Neither of them spoke for nearly a full minute.

"For as long as what takes?"

Andy chuckled. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed?" He threw the ball a few more times before he sighed. "As long as it takes for all those monkey's to get spanked." He heard the snort in the dark and smiled again.

"I _hadn't_ noticed actually," the disembodied voice replied. "After all these years I think I just tune it out and don't even hear it anymore."

It was Andy's turn to snort. "Wish I could say the same!"

"Well of course now that you've brought it up, it's _all_ I can fucking hear! So thanks for that!"

Andy laughed this time. "Ah, fuck!" he sighed. "What the _fuck_ are we doing stuck in a barracks with thirty horny kids...who all seem to have the need to fucking jerk off at _exactly_ the same moment!?" He felt like yelling the last part at the top of his lungs to maybe embarrass the little bastards into stopping. But he didn't. He'd been one those horny little bastards himself once. He sighed again as he caught the ball and rested his hand on his chest. "You wanna get outta here?" he asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I can't handle this shit, I'm going for a walk," he said as he swung his legs out of bed. As he pulled on his sweats he heard movement from the other bed and smiled.

They traversed the barracks quickly, heading for the door. It was after lights out and technically they weren't really supposed to leave the building until after reveille in six hours time, but that fact didn't seem to bother either of them.

Andy shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked, taking in a deep breath of the cool night air.

"I'm Andy by the way," he said after they'd been walking a few minutes in no particular direction. "Trent. Hawk. Sergeant," he finished, feeling like an absolute moron!

Schofield smiled. "So...Sergeant Andrew "Hawk" Trent then."

Andy chuckled. "Yes, that would be a correct assessment of the situation."

"Second Lieutenant Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield. But no one calls me Shane. Call me Schofield or Scarecrow if you like. Though I can't promise I'll answer to that straight away, it's kinda new on me."

Andy nodded, then he frowned as something that Schofield had said sunk in. "Wait, if you're already an officer, what are you doing here?"

Schofield sighed. "Long story Trent."

"I've got all night."

Schofield looked at him a moment. "Not tonight, okay?"

Andy shrugged. "Sure. But just don't expect me to call you Sir." He grinned and continued when Schofield looked at him. "Basic is the great equaliser my friend, all men are considered equal when you're being yelled at by the same drill instructor."

Schofield chuckled as he shook his head. "You can say that again! Jesus I forgot how fanatical theses guys can seem."

"You know I was waiting for that drill sergeant to take your head off today when he saw you wearing those glasses." Schofield didn't answer, but he pressed on anyway. "So you can imagine my surprise when he didn't even so much as raise his voice...and here you are wearing them again, even though it's pitch black out here..."

"Again, not tonight okay?" Schofield repeated quietly, hoping Trent would take the hint.

They didn't get a chance to discuss it further, as out of nowhere a bolt of lightning lit up the sky, quickly followed by an ear-splitting crack. And it was then that it started absolutely pissing down rain.

"Shit! This rain is fucking freezing!" Andy cried as the fat drops quickly soaked through the shoulders and back of his t-shirt.

"Over here!" Schofield called as he ran towards an awning attached to one of the buildings.

Andy followed him to the shelter and came to a stop next to him, breathing hard and running his hands through his hair to dislodge some of the rain, his heated skin still in shock from the sudden exposure to the cold water. He turned to see the Scarecrow take his glasses off to clean the water off them...Andy didn't have to guess where he got his new callsign from. "Whoa!"

Schofield glanced at him. "Yeah, well...now you know why I wear these fucking things all the time, because of reactions like that," he said as he put them back on.

Without thinking Andy reached up towards his face, and Schofield had a hold of his wrist before he'd even registered the other man was moving. He held up his other hand...he didn't mean any harm...

Schofield didn't like people touching him, especially people he didn't know from Adam. But as Trent looked at him, his expression so open, so guileless...he didn't know why, but he decided he wanted to trust this man, found he wanted to let him in...which surprised the hell out of him. But maybe, maybe he was just tired of pushing everyone away all the time, so he dropped his hand, and let Trent push his glasses up onto his head. He closed his eyes as the other man ran gentle fingers over his scars, the only person ever to do so apart from his doctor.

"Fuck, man," he breathed. "Did it hurt?"

His eyes snapped open. "What do you think!?"

Andy had the good grace to look embarrassed at that. "Sorry," he said quietly. "But how are you not blind!?"

"I was for a while. But thankfully, the good folks at John's Hopkins are way smarter than you and me. They fixed up my sight better than new, but they couldn't do anything about the scars. And they couldn't change the fact that even though I've got twenty-twenty again, I still sustained an eye injury, so I can never fly again either."

"Well that sucks!"

Schofield nodded his agreement.

"So that's why you're here even though you're already an officer?"

"Yeah. They let me keep my commission, just. I was a Lieutenant Commander on the Wasp..."

Andy whistled at that and Schofield smiled.

"Yeah," he said a little sadly. "But, no use dwelling on it. There was no way I was gonna ride a desk and I love the Corps too much to leave...so I decided to retrain to become a line animal."

Andy leant one shoulder against the wall facing Schofield, and watched as the other man leant back and slipped his glasses back down. "It's a pity you know..."

"What is?"

"That you feel the need to wear those glasses all the time...you have incredible eyes..."

Schofield glanced at him. It was a strange thing to hear, coming from another Marine.

"How did it happen?"

Schofield looked back out into the night. He didn't speak for a long time. "It's stopped raining..." he said finally.

"Has it?"

Schofield turned his head slightly to find Trent watching him intently.

When Schofield's head turned in his direction, Andy realised that maybe his scars weren't the only reason he liked to wear those damned glasses. He couldn't tell whether the man was even looking at him, let alone what he might be thinking, and that made him feel incredibly exposed, like the guy could see right through him.

"We should probably get back," Schofield said suddenly, as he pushed off the wall and started to walk back towards the road.

Andy took a deep breath as he just watched him go for a moment, his eyes taking in the way his thin t-shirt now clung to his body, revealing the compact muscular frame beneath...shaking his head slightly, he straightened and jogged the few steps needed to catch up.

"Word is we'll be getting a new hand-to-hand instructor," Andy said to break the silence that had descended upon them.

Schofield snorted. "Did we break this one already?"

Andy chuckled at that. "I think you came damn close today! If the guy had ended up on his ass one more time..."

"I think he's new to the job."

"Yeah, looked that way. I think they should've started him on the rookie class. But no, we didn't break him, apparently his wife had their first kid tonight so he's on leave for a few months."

"Hopefully they'll have learnt their lesson and send us someone with a bit more experience next time."

Andy just smiled.

"What?"

"How does Romeo Roach grab you for experience?"

Schofield stopped and looked at him. " _The_ Romeo Roach?"

"Yep! He's stationed here for a while and put his hand up to take over from Thoms."

Captain Harley "Romeo" Roach was a few years older than they were, and he was already an absolute legend. Commanding officer of Marine Force Reconnaissance Unit Five, one of the eight prized Atlantic-based recon units. Schofield couldn't quite understand why someone like him would be teaching at OCS, so he asked the obvious question. "Why?"

Andy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he's just getting in some instructor time, in case he wants to go that way when he can't do Force Recon work anymore."

Schofield nodded. It seemed plausible enough. Plus he wasn't going to knock back an opportunity to learn from the best.

By the time they got back to the barracks all was quiet. They quickly stripped off their sweats and their still damp shirts and climbed back into their bunks.

"Goodnight John-Boy," Andy called softly.

"Shut up and go to sleep you idiot!" Schofield answered with a smile. He could hear movement across from him, and when Trent spoke again his voice was louder, like he'd rolled over to face him.

"You really will like me once you get to know me Lieutenant."

"Oh, I adore you already Sergeant." He received a low chuckle in reply, and even though he didn't exactly adore him, he decided he really did already like Sergeant Andrew "Hawk" Trent quite a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of the younger generation you may not get the "Goodnight John-Boy" reference, it's from an old tv show called The Waltons, where there were about twenty (slight exaggeration) kids sharing the same room and they used to all say Goodnight to each other like that every night after the lights went out, quite often the last scene of the episode. And you guessed it one of the kids names was John-Boy.
> 
> Also, the last little interaction between Andy and Scarecrow was shamelessly taken from a scene of Stargate SG-1 episode Children of the Gods, where Carter says to O'Neill that he really will like her once he gets to know her and he tells her he adores her already 😍
> 
> Hope you enjoyed 🙂


End file.
